NFL History

Since the days of leather helmets, football has been the ultimate team game. Individual greatness will be achieved by players and records of their deeds will be kept, but the team concept rules the game.

Throughout the past 80 seasons, the NFL has exemplified that team attitude. Through the teamwork of players, coaches, commissioners, club owners, corporate sponsors, and television partners, the NFL has grown from humble beginnings in an automobile showroom in 1920; one or two teams have taken a turn at standing above the rest.

1920s

On August 20, 1920, representatives of four professional clubs held the first of two meetings in Canton, Ohio, which led to the founding of the American Professional Football Association. Two years later, the APFA officially became the National Football League.

The Canton Bulldogs were the early powerhouse in the NFL. In 1922-23 Canton built a 21-0-3 record, winning two league championships. The Green Bay Packers, behind coach Earl (Curly) Lambeau and quarterback Arnie Herber, bridged the gap from the 1920s to the 1930s, winning three consecutive titles from 1929 to 1931. Jim Thorpe, the 1912 Olympic decathlon champion, played for several teams and was the NFL's first president.

1930s

The NFL gambling fans endured growing pains through its early years. In 1933, with 10 teams divided into Eastern and Western Divisions, the season climaxed with the first official NFL Championship Game. The Chicago Bears defeated the New York Giants 23-21.

Owner/coach George Halas's Bears took center state in the 1930s behind the exploits of fullback Bronco Nagurski and end Bill Hewitt. The early part of the decade marked the twilight of running back Red Grange's career. During the time from the Great Depression through the beginning of World War II, the Bears played in six NFL Championship Games, winning four titles.

In 1939, an NFL game was telecast for the first time -- the Philadelphia Eagles facing the Brooklyn Dodgers on NBC -- and the total league attendance exceeded one million (1,071,200) for the first time.

1940s

The 1940s began with the Bears unimaginable 73-0 NFL Championship Game victory over the Washington Redskins, and closed with the Philadelphia Eagles completing the only consecutive championship game shutout victories in NFL history in 1948 (Eagles 7, Chicago Cardinals 0) and 1949 (Eagles 14, Los Angeles Rams 0).

In 1947, a rival league, the all-American Football Conference, fielded eight teams. Owner/coach Paul Brown's Cleveland Browns dominated the AAFC, posting a 47-4-3 record during the league's four-year existence.

1950s

In 1950, Cleveland, along with Baltimore and San Francisco, joined the NFL after the AAFC was disbanded. The Browns, led by quarterback Otto Graham, won the title that NFL football gambling season 30-28 over the Los Angeles Rams.

The Browns and Detroit Lions were the dominant teams of the 1950s. Cleveland won three titles and, including the AAFC years, played in a title game 10 years in a row, winning seven times. The Lions, led by halfback Doak Walker and quarterback Bobby Layne, also won three NFL titles, including back-to-back victories over the Browns in 1952-53.
As the NFL grew, the impact of television grew with it. In 1950, the Rams were the first NFL team to have all their games televised. In 1951, the DuMont Network paid the NFL $75,000 to televise the first league championship game coast to coast.

In 1958, television took the excitement and drama of football into homes across America as millions of fan saw the Colts defeat the Giants 23-17 in sudden-death overtime to win the NFL football betting championship. For some, it was the greatest game ever played, and it sparked new interest in the NFL.

1960s

The 1960s were marked by the success of the Green Bay Packers under coach Vince Lombardi, the start of the glory days of NFL Commissioner Pete Rozelle, the first of the American Football league (AFL) and the beginning of the Super Bowl in January, 1967.

In 1961, legislation important to the continued growth and stability of the league was passed by Congress. The bill legalized single-network television contracts by professional sports leagues, opening the door to a great American audience. In 1962, Rozelle took advantage of the new law by signing a contract with CBS to televise all the league's regular-season games for the first time.

Founded in 1960 by Lamar Hunt, the AFL merged with the NFL in 1966. Both leagues maintained separate identities and schedules through 1969, but played an annual AFL-NFL World Championship Game (later to be called the Super Bowl), beginning in January, 1967.

NFL champion Green Bay defeated the AFL's Kansas City Chiefs 35-10 in Super Bowl I, played on January 15, 1967, before 61,946 at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum. It is the only non-sellout for a Super Bowl and the only game televised by two networks (CBS and NBC). The television rights to the first four Super Bowls were sold to CBS and NBC for a total of $9.5 million.

1970s

Prior to the 1970 season, the merger of the AFL and NFL resulted in two conferences, the NFC and the AFC. This was achieved when Baltimore, Cleveland, and Pittsburgh of the NFL agreed to join the 10 AFL clubs, including the expansion Cincinnati Bengals, in the new American Football Conference.

Off the field, the NFL Management Council, representing the league's clubs, and the NFL Players Association signed a pair of Collective Bargaining Agreements (in 1970 and 1977) that provided substantially increased benefits to the players. In 1976, two new teams joined the NFL. The Seattle Seahawks and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers became the twenty-seventh and twenty-eight franchises. In 1978, the NFL regular season was increased from 14 to 16 games, and the postseason playoffs were expanded to 10 teams --three division champions and two wildcard entries from each conference.

1980s

The 1980s were highlighted by record attendance, skyrocketing television ratings and the globalization of the NFL.

The San Francisco 49ers was the team of the NFL football gambling 80s. The game climaxed the 1982 season that drew 13.6 million fans to 224 regular season games, a record average of 60.745 per game.

1990s

Commissioner Pete Rozelle announced his retirement in 1989. Paul Tagliabue, an attorney who had worked on NFL issues for almost 20 years and was a confidant of Rozelle, was elected to succeed him. In 1998, NFL club presidents extended Tagliabue's contract to the year 2005.

The title of the team of the 1990s hasn't been claimed yet, the Dallas Cowboys, who won Super Bowls XXVII, XXVIII, and XXX, or the Denver Broncos, who broke a 13-year NFC championship streak by winning Super Bowl XXXII and defended their championship with a victory in Super bowl XXXIII in January.

The most significant off-field event of the early 1990s was the 1993 NFL labor accord with the players. The seven-year Collective Bargaining Agreement with the NFL Players Association opened a new year of stability for players and NFL gambling followers. It was extended in 1998 until 2003.

The league grew in the 1990s to 31 teams, making it the largest in pro sports. In 1995, the Carolina Panthers and the Jacksonville Jaguars were added, and in 1996, the Baltimore Ravens took the field for the first time. In 1999, the Cleveland Browns return to the field.

The NFL also made significant progress in the '90s in working with communities to build new or renovate old stadiums.

In 1998, the NFL entered into record eight-year television contracts with ABC, CBS, ESPN, and FOX.